Publikationsrepositorium - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

The demand for strategic metals such as chromium and vanadium is predicted to rise in the future. These metals can currently be found in the slag by-products of certain steel production processes. We are developing a solvent extraction process for the separation and purification of these valuable resources from alkaline oxidative leach feed streams. This process shows potential to be applicable to alternative feed streams in addition. The extractant phase used is commercially available Aliquat 336 with kerosene as diluent and long-chain alcohol or ketone as phase modifiers. The use of the radiotracer technique allows simple and precise measurement of the metal concentration at each step of the process. Chromium-51 and vanadium-48 radionuclides are produced in-house at the HZDR cyclotron facility. Early results have shown that this process effectively removes chromium and vanadium together from model feed streams, indicating the need for a further separation step of the two species. To this end, a chromate scrub step is suggested.